


Names

by edenkings



Category: Talents Series - Anne McCaffrey
Genre: Family squabbling as per normal, Fluff, Name-That-Baby!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-27
Updated: 2017-02-27
Packaged: 2018-09-27 09:10:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9995831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edenkings/pseuds/edenkings
Summary: Naming the first kid is easy. By the eighth you're scraping the bottom of the barrel.Or, how the Raven-Lyon kids got their names.





	

**NAMES**

They name Laria when she is only the smallest scrap of existence, and Damia knows that she cannot name her firstborn after anyone else, this little one must be named for the uncle that she will never meet.

Afra understands.

\--

The choice to have another child is the easiest, in that they do not make a choice, there is simply the shared expectation that there will be more children.

Damia is relieved to learn she is carrying a boy, and delighted that he is as Talented as Laria, if not more so.

Grandmother Isthia comes to help with the Tower and the later stages of Damia’s pregnancy, and to keep Laria occupied while Damia is labouring.

They do not think to name this one in advance, but when he arrives, looking so much like his grandmother, his name is obvious.

Isthian screws up his face, and wails. He is a much lighter sleeper and a much, much louder baby than his sister.

_Long ear and loud voice indeed_ , Afra says ruefully to Jeff three sleepless months later.

\--

Rojer, too, is not planned, merely accepted as he comes. They are all expecting, the four remaining Gwyn-Raven siblings. Shared pregnancies do not endear the sisters to each other – Cera’s first pregnancy has left her ill and worse-tempered than usual.  Jeran’s wife Raini and Ezro’s wife, whatever her name is, are not confidantes.

They have honoured one brother, Damia not-says carefully, a fortnight or so before she is due.

_As expected_ , Afra replies.

_Perhaps I should name this one for my other brothers?_

_What would you call him, Ezran?_

_Rojer?_ Damia laughs.

The little one kicks.

Damia laughs – _Are you a little Rojer?_  She says to the little life she carries.

Another kick.

\--

The pregnancy with Zara is the most difficult of all. Rojer is temperamental as he reaches eighteen months, and even as Laria starts school, Damia and Afra struggle as they are pulled in many directions. The Tower is busy, and they have little by way of local help.

They contemplate calling the girl after Cera, or perhaps one of the sisters-in-law, but in a reversal of fortunes Cera is swimming through her second pregnancy, and she is insufferably smug. Damia hates sending anything in the direction of Procyon, and Afra conspires with the Rowan and the expediters of Aurigae and Callisto to avoid it as often as possible.

Elizara Matheson, recently widowed, is sent with her three youngest to give a hand. She’s got the medical background to assist Damia, and the oomph of a Prime Talent to assist in the tower. The twins are a year older than Laria and help with the transition into school for her. Pietro is the same age as Rojer, and they keep each other occupied.

It’s an obvious choice of name, though perhaps again, Afra thinks to his father in law, some fourteen years later, unintentionally prophetic.

Jeff laughs, _perhaps more prescience? You can’t have known that the girl was too empathic for Tower duties._

\--

Kaltia is the only child with a name of her very own.

Cera has not forgotten the supposed snub of not having a niece named for her, despite her own two children being named for her husbands’ family. She makes pointed comments from the time Damia announces that they’re having a fifth child.

Damia retaliates by calling the child a name she finds pretty, but not one that has any connection with the family.

_It’s a Capellan name_ , she protests to her parents, who gently chide her for aggravating her sister.

Damia feels Rowan roll her eyes. _You’ve never cared for anything Capellan, bar Afra._

\--

 Morag is the third girl in a row. They’ve been firm about not naming their girls after the Ravens, and they’re not about to change that.

_Are we to have more problems this time with your naming choices_? Jeff says to Afra in a private aside once the announcement of the girl’s birth goes out to the other Towers.

Damia hears the aside anyway, and sends back in the sweetest of tones, _we decided to name her Morag for the Gwyns._

 Cera complains anyway. Jeran and Raini, expecting their third, are suitably compelled to call their daughter Celia.

\--

Ewain, poor boy, is marooned amongst a sea of girls.

_We’re on a Gwyn theme_ , Damia says innocently, twisting the knife just a little further.

\--

Petra is Afra’s choice – he mentions that he hasn’t chosen a name yet, and while he hurriedly  reassures a suddenly-guilty Damia that he likes the names she chooses, he’d also like to name one.

They agree that a Capellan style name would not suit, not that there are many suitable family  names left unclaimed by Afra’s brothers’ and sisters’ children.

If he were to name a child after someone... well.  The biggest influences on his life have been his elder sister (and those names are taken), Chief Damitcha (too much like Damia for a good name), Gollee Gren (no good feminine versions, besides Gollee would be insufferable).... and Peter Reidinger.

It’s been a middling pregnancy, and Damia has been unbelievably grumpy...

_How about Petra?_ He asks.

Damia, who has followed his train of thought, agrees, though she smacks his arm in mock disapproval.

_I rather like that,_ she says.

\--

They have all of their children in the same house for the briefest of times. Petra is barely eight months when Laria leaves for Clarf. When Thian leaves, not quite two years later, Damia feels their loss despite the other six children still in the house.

They contemplate another , well, Damia contemplates another. Afra is determined that eight is _more_ _than_ enough.

_We still haven’t named one for Cera_ , Damia says, eyes sparkling.


End file.
